Yoke for railway-car draft-rigging



Patented Jan. 4, 1921.

1. F. OCONNOH.

YoKE FOR-RAILWAY CAR DRAFT mGGsNG.

.APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6.1919.

` many years.

, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

i JOHN F; OCONNOR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 WILLIAM H. MINER, OF

CHAZY, NEW YORK.

YOKE FOR RAILWAY-CAR IJILKEAIE'JJ-RICKrING.

Application filed .Tune 6, 1919.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN F. OCONNOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Yokes for Railway- Car Draft-Rigging, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speci-- iication. f

My invention relates to improvements in yokes for railway car draft rigging-more particularly to those yokes designed to be employed in tandem. draft gear.

In railroad practice, yoke straps consisting of a U-shaped member having at their free ends inturned lugs to engage trie shoulders of a draw bar and being riveted to the draw bar have been in common use for These yokes generally are made of wrought iron.

@ne ofthe objects of my invention is to permit the use of these wrought iron yokes which otherwise might be discarder, and, at the same time, provide a yoke readily detachable from the draw bar and also to provide a yoke of suiiicient strength to meet the present day conditions in railroad service. @ther objects of my invention will appear from the description thereof hereinafter following.

In the drawings forming a part of this speciiication, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a yoke embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. And Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, thev numeral 10 indicates a draw bar, only the rear portion thereof being shown. The said drawk bar is provided with the usual butt 11 and the upper and lower shoulders 12-12. 13 indicates an ordinary U-shaped yoke strap, having at its forward end the inturned lugs 1li-1eL adapted in ordinary construction to engage the shoulders of the draw bar--as, for instance, a draw bar butt having a vertical height of 835 inches. The draw har which I assemble, in order that the same may be readily moved, with the theretofore used yoke strap 13, has a butt of smaller vertical height-as, for instance, 6%,- inches-both of said draw bars being of commercial size. The draw bar is provided with a transverse Speciication of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 4, 1921.

Serial No. 302,253.

key slot 15 for the passage of a coupler key 16, by means of which it is engaged to the additional members hereinafter described,l The said additional members include a hollow head 17 and upper and lower reinforcing bars 18. The said head 17 Vconsists of the sides 19 providing the opening 20 therebetween to receive the draw bar and having the upper and lower longitudinal slots 21-21 for the passage of the upperv and lower reinforcing bars 18. At the rear ends of the slots 21, inwardly projecting lugs 22-22 are provided, forming the shoulders 2li-23, against which the lugs 1li of the yoke strap 13 are adapted to be engaged. The reinforcing bars 1S are each forwardly provided with an enlarged T head 25, each being seated against the forward face of the head 17. The bars 18 extend through the slots 21 to the yoke thimble 26, which may be of any suitable type,-the typeshown in the drawing consisting of a hollow box-like member mounted between the upper and lower arms of the yoke strap 13 and secured thereto by suitable means, as for instance, the short rivets 27-27, which pass through the upper and lower walls thereof, respectively, through the adjacent arm 1,8 of the yoke strap and the` adjacent reinforcing bar 18, thus securing all these parts together. `Near their forward ends, the arms of the yoke strap 13 are provided with the old perforations theretofore used for the passage of the rivets to secure the yoke strap to a draw bar, and I provide in the reinforcing bars 18 registering rivet holes therewith for the passage of the short rivets 29, by means of which the yoke arms and the reinforcing bars are securely held together at this point. The reinforcing bars 18 are suitably secured within the slots 21 by further rivets S0-30. The side walls of the head 17 are provided with the slots 31--31 registering with the slot '5 in the draw bar for the passage of the draw bar key 16, by means of which the draw bar may be readily secured to the yoke or readily detached therefrom by the removal of the coupler key. The reinforcing bars 18 provide one of the means for securing the head to the forward end of the U-shaped yoke strap and also reinforce the arms of the yoke between the center thimble and the forward end thereof, thus providing a strong column to transmit the force of the draw bar to the rear set of compression-resisting elements mounted within the yoke, but not shown in the drawings, in bufng movement of the gear. By means of this simple device, I provide an extremely strong and efiicient yoke for tandem draft rigging and am enabled to employ the old yoke without change or loss. The usual position of the key slot in a draw bar is such that it is advisable to rearwardly extend the lateral walls of the head, as is clearly shown in Fig. l of the drawing.

I claim:

l. In a yoke for railway car draft rigging, the combination with a U-shaped yoke strap, of a hollow head to receive a draw bar, and reinforcing bars, the head being provided with longitudinal ways for the passage of said bars, the said bars being secured to the head and to the strap.

2. In a draft yoke for railway cars, in combination, a U-shaped strap, a hollow head to receive a draw bar, and reinforcing bars, the said bars being secured to the U-shaped strap, the yoke head being provided with ways for the passage of said bars, the said bars being provided at their forward ends with `shaped engaging heads.

3. In a draft yoke for railway cars, in combination, a U-shaped strap having inturned lugs at its free ends, a hollowr yoke head to receive a draw bar, and reinforce ing bars, the yoke head being provided with ways for the passage of said bars and having shoulders engaging the lugs of the yoke strap, the said reinforcing bars being secured to the yoke strap.

4. In a draft yoke for railway cars, in combination, a U-shaped yoke strap, a hollow head therefor, a thimble and reinforcing bars, the head being provided with lon gitudinal ways for the passage of the bars, the bars extending to the thimble and being secured to the yoke strap.

5. In a yoke for railway draft riggings, the combination with a hollow yoke head having slotted side walls and within which is adapted to be received the butt vof a drawbar and to which the drawbar is adapted to be keyed; of a U-shaped strap; and reinforcing bars, each of said reinforcing bars being secured at its forward end to a top or bottom wall of the head and at its rear end to the yoke strap, the forward ends of the yoke strap being rigidly secured to the reinforcing bars immediately adjacent the head.

6. As an article of manufacture, a tandem yoke for railway draft riggings comprising, a U-shaped yoke strap', a hollow substantially rectangular yoke head adapted to receive the butt of a drawbar therein, the forward ends of the arms of the strap and said head having abutting shoulders; an intermediate thimble within the yoke; and reinforcing bars applied to the outer sides of the yoke strap, the forward ends of said bars being rigidly secured to the top and bottom walls of the head and the inner ends of said bars being secured to the yoke strap and thimble, the forward end of the yoke strap being secured to the reinforcing bars adjacent the head.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 26th day of May, 1919.

JOHN F. OCONNOR. 

